


Like You

by wildfired



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Victor/Gloria, Lyric fic, M/M, Pining, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, Song Lyrics, Song fic, Trans Female Character, Trans Leon, Trans Male Character, Trans Marnie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildfired/pseuds/wildfired
Summary: If I could begin to beHalf of what you think of me,
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers, Mary | Marnie/Masaru | Victor, Mary | Marnie/Yuuri | Gloria
Kudos: 27





	Like You

  
"Piers!" Raihan wheeled on the monochrome-haired man, who glanced up from the floor in mild surprise. "You and I have got to battle again. This time, no Dynamaxing for either of us!"

The two of them, alongside the new champion (who was wearing a grey beanie today, so it was Victor, Piers assumed) and Hop, had just finished taking care of the rampant Dynamaxed Pokemon in the Hammerlocke Gym. The situation seemed to be clear now, and Sonia had just tracked the weird sword-and-shield brothers to the Power Plant. All they had to do was wait for her to get it open.

The former gym leader tugged on the charm of his choker. “I’ll conside’ it.”

“Well, let me know as soon as possible!” Raihan grinned, and the corners of Piers’ lips twitched upwards for half a second. Who wouldn’t smile at a face like that? 

A sane person, he mused. Piers nodded as his face settled back into neutral. “A’ight. We’re go’a ‘ead off now, g’luck cleanin’ up.”

“To you, the same.” Raihan clapped him on the shoulder, and Piers could feel the expression Victor was giving him as his face heated up. He didn’t know which was worse for him to look at: The overwhelmingly dominant stare and smirking lips from Raihan, or the cheeky grins from the two children behind him that could clearly sense how embarrassing the situation was.

“Later, Raihan!” Hop waved to him as he walked off. 

Piers sighed in relief, his body becoming less tense and returning to his slouching position. He didn’t even realize he was forcing himself to stand straight when Raihan was there… what did that mean?

He turned around to face Victor and Hop, who were snickering to themselves. “Neithe’ o’ya say anythin’,” he warned, before Victor burst into laughter. He raised an eyebrow and sighed. “C’mon, Sonia’s prob’ly go’ the thin’ open by now.”

After a few more moments of silent teasing, the trio approached the red-headed researcher at the elevator.

]------[

The next few hours went by in a blur, and all that was on Piers’ mind was Raihan’s stupid face.

He’d been crushing on this idiot for, what, a year? He expected himself to get over it by now, but just when he thought he was, Raihan would swoop back into his life again with that reminder of how stupidly handsome he was, how unreasonably confident he was, and not to mention the way he behaved behind closed doors…

But of course, Galar needed to be saved again, so he refocused on keeping the odd celebrity brothers from leaving the rooftop of Hammerlocke Stadium, which was just recovering from the Eternatus incident. Hop had run off to track down Zamazenta, while Victor (Gloria? Their hat was removed sometime during the battle, so Piers wasn’t sure anymore) was trying to tame Zacian. So far, it seemed as though Gloria (Victor?) was almost through.

The celebrities were frozen in awe as the champion finally managed to get Zacian into a Great Ball (Piers assumed it was for color coordination, but why?) and walked back over to the group.

“Brilliant!” Sonia beamed at them. “Seems like you’ve been recognized by real royalty!”

They nodded with a small smile. “Thanks. As for you three…”

Piers, Sonia, and the champion looked over at the brothers and former lab assistant, who were staring in shock. Piers couldn’t blame them. How was one supposed to react when a fucking fourteen-year-old manages to tame a legendary hero?

When they finally came to, the brothers stated that they’re ready to atone for their crimes, and asked Piers (or, “Spiky head” as he was called) to escort them to the right place. He agreed, and guided them and the former lab assistant back to the elevator, and they descended to the lobby.

A minute later, the elevator doors opened, and he was almost instantly knocked over by a frantic, panicky Leon, who didn’t check who was inside before trying to enter the elevator. Piers stumbled back and managed to balance himself, and the former champion backed off.

“Ah- Piers!” He smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry about that, I was just headed… up…”

It seemed like, only at that moment, did he notice who else was in the elevator. Piers sighed and started fidgeting with his choker. “‘S’a’ight, Lee, lil’ champ took ‘are uvit. They ‘n’ Son’ ‘re still up ‘ere. ‘M jus’ bringin’ ‘ese two to th’author’ies.”

Leon nodded as he looked over the other three walking out of the elevator. Shielbert’s expression was unreadable, and Sordward was puffing his chest out to seem confident, but the way his hands shook at his sides betrayed him. The former champion’s smile faded a little when he considered Piers’ statement. “What about Hop?”

“Ah, yer lil’ bro? ‘E ran off t’chase dow’ th’other one,” Piers shrugged. “No’ really sure where, though.”

“Hah, right, right. Just worried, is all.” Leon adjusted the cape on his shoulders, fingers running over the soft fur lining it. “Wasn’t able to get out of Rose Tower until, uh, twenty minutes ago. Glad that- that, uh, you were all able to take care of this, I was just worried how you and Hop would fare, but, uh, I guess Vi- uh, Gl- uh, well-”

“Bruv, chill out,” Piers held up a hand. “I ge’ it, havin’ yer work cu’ ou’ for ya”

The former champion (although now Chairman, Piers assumed) laughed nervously. “Sorry, sorry, just… really worried about hop. Big brother concerns, and all. You get it, right?”

“Ye, I ge’ it.” Piers noticed Sordward looking to his side at Shielbert. Right, he thought, he’s a big brother too. Wonder how they roped themselves into this.

The group stepped out of the castle and into the Hammerlocke early morning, and Piers belatedly realized they’d been up all night. Not unusual for him, but he caught the former lab assistant yawning and remembered that not everyone was a night owl like he was.

As they were about to call over a CorviCab, Leon looked up at the sky and Piers followed his gaze. A Charizard was flying in the direction of Wedgehurst, and on its back were a redheaded woman and a brunette young teen. Piers looked back at Leon, confused. “Tha’ one yours?”

Leon was smiling. “No, I gave the new Champion a Charmander. I guess they grew attached. They’ve already learned to fly it, and it seems to have warmed up to Sonia as well.”

“So,” Shielbert cleared his throat, making Piers jump. “Are we just going to follow them? We’ve yet to properly apologize to the Champion, after all.”

“So now you bloody acknowledge-” 

“Yep!” Leon interjected before Piers could cuss him out. “Let’s go!”

Since a Flying Taxi could only carry up to four people, and none of the others trusted Leon to be on his own, the former lab assistant accompanied Leon on the back of his Charizard, while the brothers and Piers rode on the Flying Taxi.

Piers sat opposite to them, and as they took off he leaned against the wall, resting his head in his hand. He kept his eyes on the window, and made sure Leon and the lab assistant were following before starting to space out.

His thoughts began to wander to the Dragon-type gym leader, and the offer of a rematch. Most matches against Piers were unfair, weren’t they? Every gym leader decided to Dynamax, but Piers never did so. He was very firmly against unnatural Dynamaxing, and he could very easily defeat the other gym leaders even if he has the disadvantage.

Raihan, however, was quite the problem. Battles against him were fiercer and more wild than with the others, due to how powerful his team was in general. But every time, Piers got closer and closer to defeating him, just like how Raihan got closer and closer to defeating Leon in the finals every year before this.

Now, though, with finally taking away the aspect of Dynamaxing? He feels like he would finally do it. 

Piers often found ways to keep Raihan in check. When they were little, Raihan was so into hunting for dragon-types that Piers kept having to remind him that he would have the disadvantage against Melony and Opal. He was only able to beat Melony when he changed his team to contain more well-balanced typing, rather than all-dragons.

When camping, Raihan would often forget that fanning the firepit would actually burn the pot, so he would chuck a ball of snow or wet grass or a handful of water at him whenever he did that. Turned out that Raihan hated getting wet and cold, which Piers found quite endearing, considering how Raihan liked to play with weather moves.

Come to think of it, he thought, don’t his eyes kinda look like ice stones? … Nah, his eyes are brighter, and they have that glint, and shit, what am I doing?

Battles with Raihan were fierce, but there was that underlying tone of his voice, and the way he stared at him from across the field, that made Piers’ heart leap out of his chest. It made him want to run up to him and kiss him senseless. Every time they shook hands after Piers lost, he wanted to never let go, because any touch from Raihan was heavenly. And in the locker room, where no one was watching-

“So-”

“Shit-” Piers jumped when the silence was suddenly broken by Sordward, who seemed to be surprised at his reaction. Shielbert seemed to be holding back laughter.

“Wha’d’ya wan’?” The former gym leader sighed and stared out the window, refocusing on his faint reflection in the glass.

Sordward straightened his jacket. “Well, I was curious about your standings with Chairman Leon.”

“‘Scuse me?” He raised an eyebrow.

“The two of you are quite… casual with each other. Isn’t he your superior now?”

“Lee? Well, yeah, bu’ when ya’ve known ‘im long as I ‘ave, ya come te accept tha’ ‘e’s a dumbass.” Piers drummed his fingers on his bouncing knee. “‘E’s too sof’ on people, ‘n’ he’s shit with directions. Not to mention tha’ one time, ‘e though’ ya coul’ eat the paper par’ of a choc’late drop. ‘E sai’ i’s cuz Son tol’ ‘im ‘e could a month prior. Han was all, ‘Actually, ya can!’ ‘is jaw fuckin’ dropped, like, ‘Ya can?’ Why would ‘e fall for that again?”

Sordward nodded as he spoke about his friends. “How long have you known each other for?”

“Eh, ‘d say… ten? Ten years? ‘Im and Son, ten, then Gords and Han for ‘leven,” Piers mumbled as he counted on his fingers. “Lee ‘n’ Son ‘n’ I drifted, kinda, with Lee’s champion-ing and Son’s whole lab assistant schtick. Gords ‘n’ Rai ‘n’ I still ‘ang, though.”

“You met… when he became champion?”

“Before, actually. Durin’ the gym challenge, Han introduced us all. Go’ along well, actually. Han ‘as that eye, y’know? People person.”

Shielbert smirked, and oh no, Piers did not like that look. “For clarification, this ‘Han’ person is Gym Leader Raihan, correct?”

“Yeah, so?” He looked back out the window, tapping his foot to a silent beat in his head, drowning out the thoughts about Raihan’s eyes with electric guitar riffs.

“Well, you talk about him a l-”

“No,” he interrupted, “I know exactly wha’ yer try’n’a ge’ inta. No.”

The rest of the ride was in awkward silence as Piers buried down his thoughts once again. Geez, the world really does not want him to forget about it, huh? He’d been crushing on this idiot ever since they started hooking up, which was really weird, consider you probably weren’t supposed to be doing that.

Besides, isn’t Raihan out of his league? He had previously heard rumors about how if Raihan were to move out of the region, he would become champion somewhere else. The thought made his chest hurt a little. 

Finally, they touched down in the small town of Wedgehurst. Piers paid the pilot a couple hundred pokepounds, and met up with Leon and the former lab assistant just outside Route 1.

]------[

At eight in the morning, Sordward, Shielbert, and the former lab assistant were locked up, and Leon and Piers were sitting on a park bench in a park in Wyndon. Leon yawned and leaned back, almost dozing off before Piers stomped on his foot, and he awoke with a yelp.

“Ow! You’re an asshole,” the chairman whined. 

Piers shrugged. “Well, I’ve been kept up all nigh’. Migh’ as well keep ya up too.”

“That’s twisted.”

“Well, wha’ abou’ me isn’?” He sighed and cracked his knuckles - nothing aggressive, it was just a habit he picked up a while back, and Leon understood that. 

He did, however, frown at him, and Piers knew that look. “Hey, don’t say that about yourself! There’s a lot of good things about you, you just don’t see them.”

“Like what?”

“Well,” Leon hummed, “for starters, you can defeat every other gym leader without Dynamaxing! I’d say that’s pretty impressive.”

“Yeah, bu’ the new champ can easily do that too. ‘Ave ya seen ‘em?”

“... you have a point. But!” Leon sat up, now determined to end Piers’ self loathing habits. “They play on type advantages, have you seen their team? During Nessa’s fight, they used a Rillaboom and a Leafeon! And during Bea, they used a Hatterene! And with Rai, a Frosmoth! You only use Dark types- and you even defeat Opal and Bea without a sweat! You’re strong, Piers, and determined, too! You’re also an amazing big brother to Marnie, taking care of her all on your own. She’s gonna be amazing, thanks to you, and you helped my brother and a lil champ a lot today, so stop doubting yourself, damnit!”

Piers blinked at the onslaught of words, not really registering any of it. “Uh… uh, yeah, thanks, mate.”

Oh, wait. He mentioned Marnie.

“Look, ‘m gonna get goin’ now, Marn’s probably worried ‘bout me.” He stood up and brushed off his shorts. 

Leon smiled and stood as well. “Yeah, I should get going home too. Safe travels, Piers!”

As they parted, Piers thought back to Leon’s words. Was he really that great?

**Author's Note:**

> Piers' accent is killing me.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please stay tuned for the next parts.


End file.
